Community Engagement Manager At International Rescue Committee

IRC Background: The IRC in Northern California was established in 1975 in response to the needs of the growing refugee population. Over the past 40 years the IRC has resettled nearly 60,000 clients in Northern California. Originally focused on reception and placement the IRC now provides a range of services including economic empowerment, immigration, community gardening, and case management for victims of trafficking servicing a wide range of clients.

**Job Overview:**The Community Engagement Manager (CEM) provides supervision, standards, and oversight of the design and implementation of effective volunteer opportunities, in-kind donations and inventory tracking. The CEM will oversee roll out and oversight of all community engagement initiatives for the IRC Oakland office. The CEM establishes standards on engagement events organized by corporations, faith-based organizations, schools, CBOs, and other institutions, to enhance resource development in the region. The CEM manages the Oakland’s office external communications, including print, broadcast & social media, in coordination with HQ and NorCal leadership. This role will serve as the main contact person to capitalize external interest throughout IRC Oakland’s service area. The CEM is part of IRC Oakland’s Leadership team.

Major Responsibilities:

Community Engagement

• Recruit, train and supervise Volunteer Specialist, Donations Specialist, and Inventory Specialist in the Oakland, CA office.
• Organize regular meetings as a local Community of Practice for the Volunteer Specialist, Donations Specialist, and Inventory Specialist.
• Develop and ensure implementation of standards for Oakland office of volunteer and intern service descriptions, recruitment, onboarding, retention and recognition.
• Develop and ensure implementation for in-kind donations outreach, tracking and reporting that is standard across all Oakland programs.
• Design and implement community empowered initiatives to support local office programming.
• Gather aggregate data about volunteer services to report and to use to evaluate and improve programming across Oakland programs.
• Ensure there are processes and standard practices to manage social media and storage of in-kind on and off-site.
• Provide support to Volunteer Specialist and local staff when issues arise around a volunteer situation that might require guidance or termination of volunteer services.
• Conduct outreach activities accordingly, including building/maintaining relationships with local institutions, CBOs, and other community stakeholders. “Be the external face” of IRC Oakland.
• Grow IRC Oakland’s Refugee Voice initiative, an effort meant to engage former refugees in telling their own stories and advocating for community leadership support.
• Represent IRC in community forums and stakeholder meetings as assigned.
• Identify potential partner, community resource, and donor support, referring these back to IRC leadership, as appropriate for further cultivation.
• Update and maintain the Oakland community engagement strategy, in collaboration with NorCal Leadership by attending Nor Cal Leadership meetings.
• Build and foster internal working relationships with department managers and direct service teams to maintain clear understanding of ongoing programmatic needs
• Other related duties as assigned.

Resource Development & Donor Relations

• Oversee Volunteer Specialist, Donations Specialist, and Inventory Specialist to effectively meet cash and in-kind matching requirements, and maintain appropriate documentation for cash, volunteer time and in-kind donations.
• Represent IRC at volunteer and career fairs, fundraising events, and other community outreach opportunities.
• Organize special events, which includes managing staff, vendors, event planners, as well as coordinating with other IRC offices as needed.
• Solicit corporations for event sponsorships, leveraging our existing employee volunteer programs.
• In collaboration with Development team, prepare solicitations for special fundraising campaigns to support IRC Oakland client services.
• Utilize Salesforce database to enter and manage donor data, process gifts and acknowledgements as needed.
• Support in proposal writing and submissions, as requested.

Communications & Public Relations

• In coordination with NorCal, maintain an enhanced Oakland IRC website, ensuring updated & engaging content.
• Oversee all social media platforms, writing and editing content as needed.
• Oversee the production of community engagement reports for Oakland office, in collaboration with the QA & Data Coordinator.
• Field all inquiries from print & broadcast media, in collaboration with HQ, Executive Director, site directors & program staff.
• Convene town hall meetings and similar gatherings in order to update IRC’s community of stakeholders, while educating and recruiting potential donors, volunteers and constituents.
• Represent IRC in community forums and stakeholder meetings as assigned;

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: IRCOakland Director

Position directly supervises: Volunteer/Intern Specialist, Donations Specialist, Inventory Specialist

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Development Manager,HQ Communication staff, Community Engagement colleagues, direct service program managers, Executive Director, Grants Manager

External: Corporations, faith-based organizations, schools, and community organizations offering volunteer, cash and in-kind support.

Job Requirements:

• Undergraduate degree required. Preferably with an emphasis in communication, non-profit management, human resources, international development or relevant field of study.
• Minimum of 3 years of demonstrated success in volunteer coordination/management.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience managing diverse teams
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills; ability to communicate effectively and diplomatically with current and prospective donors and volunteers, partner agencies, multi-cultural clients and colleagues on all levels.
• Strong organizational skills in a complex, multi-tasking environment and the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Excellent Microsoft Office skills and ability to learn new computer applications rapidly.
• Deep understanding of program management and human resource management principles
• Demonstrated success working and communicating effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Flexible and able to handle pressure well.
• Experience developing and providing orientations and trainings.

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: In accordance with IRC’s duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards and our commitment to safeguard the health of our employees, clients, and communities, IRC requires candidates who are selected for interview to furnish proof of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to be considered for this position.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity: IRC is committed to building a diverse organization and a climate of inclusivity. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they can contribute to this goal.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

US Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days depending on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $120 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with immediately vested matching, disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.